Your virtuosity in historic recordings is admirable.
I do agree about those recordings of the "Ring" from the 50s by Furtwängler, Keilberth, Krauss and Knappertsbusch; they are very satisfying. However, as so much of the Pristine catalogue demonstrates, not all pre-war recordings are by any means unlistenable with a will - far from it, in fact, once they have benefited from Andrew Rose's XR remastering. I am quite often able with confidence to recommend some historical recordings, such as the 1931 Thill/Vallin "Werther", Lorenzo Molajoli's 1928 "Aida" (especially in Pristine's refurbishment) or one of the "Tristan" live recordings with Flagstad and Melchior from the 30s.
The caveat to my previous comments is much older recordings where the signal to noise ratio falls below a certain threshold, and there is insufficient musical information to offset the distortion. I’m not an expert, but could this be what they call “prewar” recordings?
I agree that the ear easily adapts to limitations in sonic soundstage, faulty balances, intonational difficulties, as long as the capture is fundamentally sound. The live Bayreuth Rings from the 50s seem acceptable to me even in the original “pressings” (vs Testament reissues).
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